Safety and Workplace Violence

In the May/June 1926 edition of The Personnel Journal, David Wechsler wrote about research on safety for taxi drivers. Using what by today's standards would be considered a crude testing device, researchers used the apparatus to test drivers' reflexes to determine whether they were driving safely and whether they were likely to cause an accident. Read the rest of Wechsler's article here.

Trash collectors around the country are getting used to stringent federal rules that severely restrict the use of cell phones while they are behind the wheel. New regulations from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration made it illegal for drivers of all commercial motor vehicles to operate their vehicles while talking on the phone – with a few exceptions.

William Thomas worked as a light equipment operator for the Warren County Department of Public Works when he was injured in 2009. Court records show that Thomas also was employed by a janitorial service at that time.

While safety standards listed under the state Injury and Illness Prevention Program typically improve safety, the commission said it's unclear whether state mandates cause employers to be safer than companies that voluntarily implement such practices.

The California Commission for Health, Safety and Workers' Compensation released a draft of the study on Jan. 12. The Injury and Illness Prevention Program, implemented in 1991, requires California employers to create a written safety plan that addresses safe work practices, employee safety training and procedures for correcting hazards, among other provisions.Two-thirds of IIPP violations in California involve employers who did not have or implement a written safety plan, the commission said.

Overexertion—or injuries caused by lifting, pushing, pulling, holding and carrying—costs businesses $12.5 billon in direct annual expenses and accounts for more than 25 percent of the national burden, according to Liberty Mutual's Workplace Safety Index.

To celebrate Workforce Management's 90th anniversary, we're running a series of articles looking at important workforce-related issues with a then-and-now theme. The first installment deals with workplace safety in the 1920s and what's going on in that area today. Next month, we look at the 1930s and employer-sponsored pension plans.

Under the new rule finalized Dec. 21, cargo pilots are exempt from a sweeping overhaul of commercial airline pilot scheduling, where pilots would fly shorter shifts and be given longer rest periods, the FAA said in statement.